<p>Wellesley has a “Early Evaluation” system where they tell you the results of your decision in advance. Likely means 99% ish or so probably of being accepted. Possible means you have a 1/5 chance of being accepted. Unlikely means that you’re probably rejected. But no one’s results are official yet.</p>
<p>Post #157, Wellesley wants you to show the love. Did you ever visit the campus?</p>
<p>Then you still have a 20 percent chance. Jeez, that’s not necessarily a lost cause.</p>
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<p>Yes, I did. I’m not sure how they manage to keep track of everyone who visits.</p>
<p>Wellesley considers these factors very important in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Rigor of secondary school record
Class rank
Academic GPA
Standardized test scores
Application Essay
Recommendation(s)</p>
<p>In one of your posts you stated that you had a couple of B’s and a downward trend. Did this trend happen during junior year?</p>
<p>They also consider the level of interest. You stated that you visited, however, did you interview? Did you go to any open houses, events in your city? Did they come to your school? If yes, did you pop in to see them?</p>
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<p>No, I didn’t interview, nor did I go to any open houses. They didn’t come to my school either, although I doubt we’ve sent anyone there in the last decade.</p>
<p>Are you more worried about the Wellesley deferral as a harbinger of things to come, chaosakita, or is it a school that you’re particularly excited about? Did the “possible” letter come with any recommendations/suggestions for submitting additional materials to increase your chances of an ultimately favorable admission review?</p>
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<p>What I believe people mean when they call this anti-intellectual…doing things for extrinsic reasons, to play the game…often at the expense of real education (inside and outside the classroom).</p>
<p>What so many- kids and parents- seem to forget is that (aside from cramming for the SAT), ‘working hard’ at school and extra curriculars means you learn more and develop into a stronger and better human being. Which, regardless of where you go to school, is going to have a really big, positive impact on your life (though I also believe having a strong social life is actually very developmentally valuable as well). </p>
<p>But it is not AS IF you did all this work and ‘just end up’ at X school…and therefore it was all pointless and ‘wasted’. Where on earth are these kids going to school or hearing from the adults in their life that somehow working hard at school makes no difference at all in your intellect, abilities, knowledge, and future success in university (whichever one you attend). </p>
<p>If kids (and their families) are just going through the motions to get some sort of prize at the end; you know, look good on college apps so you get into the right college for the sole point of looking good on the resume… ack, that is seriously problematic. You might say well those are kids for you, but where are the parents and teachers in all this? </p>
<p>It is sad. I see this more and more and more-- instrumentality and game playing that actually seems at odds with the point of education. Doesn’t anyone tell these kids from day one that the point of working at school is to learn and get educated?</p>
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<p>Mathmom, you are right. I was being flippant and glib. </p>
<p>Chaos, I believe you will find yourself at a fine institution when the application cycle winds down. good luck.</p>
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<p>I would love to know what percentage of kids in this generation are hearing that from their parents. I get the impression many kids are receiving an entirely different message.</p>
<p>Well, I wonder how many of today’s students are hearing that AT SCHOOL. </p>
<p>One of the things that was made perfectly clear to my children from the time they were in 2nd grade, FROM THE SCHOOLS, was how each year it was possible to ruin their entire life by messing up in a year. It was ridiculous.</p>
<p>At one point, I had a 14 year old sobbing in my living room because she would never get into a “great college” and her life was over, because she hadn’t done well on a world history project. (As far as I was concerned, the project was so idiotic, grades for things other than learning, grades for organization?)</p>
<p>I told her to learn what she could, enjoy the process, and even if she DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, there was a way for her to be perfectly fine and go to college. She seemed stunned.</p>
<p>After that, whenever a teacher would pull the “You are ruining your life” card, or give the “your grades now will determine your entire future,” she would tune them out.</p>
<p>So, I think the whole focus is “off” and not just at home. JMO</p>
<p>To go for knowledge, take academic chances, challenge oneself (knowing that it may hurt the gpa) or to play it safe and maximize gpa? It is too bad there is so often a dichotomy.</p>
<p>How to advise a high schooler? I always used to say go for the former. Now I’m thinking that maybe it’s OK to go for the former if you have a 3.5 gpa or better. But in the real world, if you’ve got a 2.8 gpa, you might serve yourself better in the long run by playing the game to improve that gpa and open some nicer doors for yourself after 12th grade. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Starbright,</p>
<p>I agree with you regarding trying to game the system or pursuing something for the wrong reasons. I was just trying to point out that I understand the kids that say they sacrifice a lot and then when they don’t reach their goal, they feel like they wasted their effort.</p>
<p>I must admit that after talking to GC and browsing here I had to make certain suggestions to him to maximize his chances at getting accepted at a decent college. He was always involved in ECs outside of school (piano, Sunday schoool and gymnastics), but I’ve been told that is not enough. I insisted that he take up one EC at school. He picked debate because we both thought that he will benefit from practicing writing his speeches and public speaking. What do you know? He fell in love with the debate. He “sucked” (his words) during his first couple of tournaments, but continuously improved over time. Now, all he talks about next year debate. He also got involved in math team because his friend wanted to do that activity. </p>
<p>I really wanted him to do just one activity because I knew how hard it is going to be on him. But he insisted on staying with the two. Because of his more than full time load at school (long story) and his in-school and out-of-school activities, this is all he did during first semester (study and EC). And he complained about lack of friend interaction outside of school … while insisting on continuing with all his ECs… </p>
<p>My son actually HAS to study really hard because of his ADHD. While his goal with all of this is not necessarily to attend Ivy League, he does sometimes comment that when he gets a bad grade (or not good enough grade) that if feels to him like all his effort was wasted. </p>
<p>Do I think it was wasted? I don’t think so, but I understand where he is coming from.</p>
<p>@poetgrl.
wow, those teachers are terrible… There is no way you can judge someone’s future success based off grades. I have heard many of my parents’ friends have kids who went to top notch schools, but end up with a not so good job and depression. And there are plenty people who don’t go to college or go to community college, and are happy, content, and successful too. </p>
<p>Grades are important to get into a “good college”. But getting into a good college does not mean you will have a good successful life. College is only one way to achieve what you want…</p>
<p>Yeah. I don’t really think it’s the teachers, to be honest. The teachers are pretty good, for the most part. It’s just the culture. The administration is very likely to give the “everything you do from now on will effect your future, forever” speech to the fourteen year olds, as well.</p>
<p>But, it probably does have something to do with kids feeling as if they have “sacrificed.” Some of them have. Hopefully, it has some intrinsic value to them, beyond the “finish line.”</p>
<p>No, it’s the teachers too - my 5th grader’s teacher has told her class that if they didn’t start doing better, they wouldn’t make it to middle school. Who does that?</p>
<p>@Poetgirl,</p>
<p>While I don’t agree with everything the teacher said (and probably the delivery method), it is hard to argue that how a child performs in elementary does not affect child’s placement in advanced classes in middle school and later in high school.</p>
<p>It absolutely does. I have ADHD son who was outperforming his schoolmates on standardized tests in elementary school (and knew the material he was being taught). However, being ADHD and the youngest in the class (because it seems every boy in that school district is being red-shirted) his behavior stood out and not in the right way. Because of his behavior (a single factor in the decision) he was not allowed to attend advanced language arts classes in elementary school (they put him into regular). They could not do that with math, because he was outperforming other kids to the point that his teacher was running out of worksheets for him to do in advanced math class.</p>
<p>That single decision in elementary school affected his placement in language arts class in middle school (he was put in regular class and they only put kids from advanced elementary class in advanced middle school class). Only when my son started high school, he was able to register for Honors English. However, the only reason why he does well in that class is because I hired a tutor in 8th grade after realizing how little they were learning in regular class.</p>
<p>And don’t start me with math class. I see kids completing calculus in 8th or 9th grade and just starting geometry or algebra 2 in high school, while having similar math ability - all because of how they were placed in elementary or middle school.</p>
<p>poetgrl: very nice posts :)</p>
<p>Right. So, maybe it is the teachers, in this case, though I suspect it is the administration who would place an intelligent kid in a less rigorous class as a “punishment” for not being able to sit still.</p>
<p>My general opinion is that schools these days measure the ability of kids to sit still, not be a nuisance, turn in assignments, and master the material, in that order. Master the material ought to be the only thing they use to track, but there you have it. The very things which used to be used as extra credit “effort” boost grades for kids who couldn’t take the tests are now the things we use as a measure of academic achievement. </p>
<p>Strange model, imho, and more about socialization and “control” than about education. But, that’s a public school system, for you. “system” being the operative word.</p>
<p>If I had to do it all over again, I would have homeschooled or sent my kids to Waldorf, but that’s just me. In the end, our results have been quite good, AND my kids have retained their curiousity and creativity. so, it’s all good.</p>
<p>^^very nice post</p>
<p>I homeschooled:)</p>
<p>until they could sit still or at least sit still sometimes</p>